Barcelona will hope to bounce back from their second loss of the season when they host Young Boys in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Having lost their European opener away at Monaco after receiving an early red card, Hansi Flick’s side succumbed to a first La Liga defeat of 2024/25 at Girona. However, their lead at the top of Spain’s leading division is still three points after Real Madrid’s draw with Atletico Madrid on Sunday.
Swiss giants Young Boys have endured an awful start to their league campaign, failing to win seven of their first eight games. They were convincingly beaten Aston Villa in their first Champions League fixture and points are already looking tough to come by.
Here’s 90min’s preview of Tuesday’s match.
Barcelona vs Young Boys H2H Record
This is the first competitive fixture between Barcelona and Young Boys.
Current form (all competitions)
|
Barcelona |
Young Boys |
|---|---|
|
Osasuna 4-2 Barcelona – 28/09/24 |
Young Boys 0-1 Grasshopper – 28/09/24 |
|
Barcelona 1-0 Getafe – 25/09/24 |
Winterthur 1-4 Young Boys – 22/09/24 |
|
Villarreal 1-5 Barcelona – 22/09/24 |
Young Boys 0-3 Aston Villa – 17/09/24 |
|
Monaco 2-1 Barcelona – 19/09/24 |
FC Vevey United 2-4 Young Boys – 14/09/24 |
|
Girona 1-4 Barcelona – 15/09/24 |
Young Boys 1-1 Lausanne – 31/09/24 |
|
Country |
TV channel/live stream |
|---|---|
|
United Kingdom |
discovery+, discovery+ App, TNT Sports 6 |
|
United States |
Paramount+, fuboTV, TUDN.com, Univision NOW, TUDN App, ViX, TUDN USA, UniMas |
|
Canada |
DAZN Canada |
Barca manager Flick made some surprising and ultimately fatal switches to his starting XI on Saturday. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha, both of whom appeared in the defeat in Pamplona as substitutes, will come back into the side.
There’s a long list of Barca injuries which currently features Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Andreas Christensen, Ronald Araujo, Dani Olmo, Fermin Lopez and Marc Bernal, but midfielders Frenkie de Jong and Gavi are close to making their returns from the sidelines.
Eric Garcia, the player sent off against Monaco, is suspended.
Barcelona predicted lineup vs Young Boys (4-2-3-1): Pena; Kounde, Cubarsi, Martinez, Balde; Casado, Pedri; Yamal, Torre, Raphinha; Lewandowski.
Young Boys will be without Loris Benito, Patric Pfeiffer, Saidy Janko and Facinet Conte for the trip to Catalonia, but manager Patrick Rahmen may well be plotting sweeping changes after their most recent loss at the weekend.
The Bern-based outfit, who won the Swiss title last season, were beaten 1-0 at home by Grasshopper on Saturday.
Young Boys predicted lineup vs Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Von Ballmoos; Athekame, Camara, Zoukrou, Hadjam; Niasse, Lauper; Ugrinic, Colley; Ganvoula.
Barcelona have hit their first poor patch under new manager Flick and how they handle that turbulence on Tuesday will be fascinating to see.
On paper, the Blaugrana look to have a great opportunity to banish memories of two recent defeats by smashing the Swiss champions, who have made an awful start to the campaign both domestically and in Europe.
Barca have the attacking quality needed to run riot against Young Boys, who’ll be short of confidence when they visit Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys. There might be a scare along the way, but the hosts should pick up a secure win to get their first points in the Champions League this season.
